Language appropriations, ideologies and identities in bilingual schools in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain)

Abstract

This article addresses language ideologies and identities through the appropriations of the English language in two prestigious secondary bilingual schools in La Mancha City (pseudonym), as part of a team-based linguistic ethnography carried out in the region of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). Since the exponential increase in different types of bilingual programmes (Spanish-English), language ideologies circulating among the local ‘imagined’ bilingual communities as well as bilingual identities of school stakeholders have been transformed and (re)shaped within the era of ‘bilingualism fever’. By drawing on linguistic and ethnographic empirical insights on CLIL classroom practices and interviews, this article explores how bilingual identities are co-constructed in relation to language policies, language ideologies and appropriations of English within the institutional spaces as a marker of distinction, elitism and prestige in the local/global market.

Keywords

• appropriations
• bilingualism
• ideologies
• identities
• linguistic ethnography